My business partner and I own a small company and have been doing this for the last five years. We both work from home and recently decided that we would have our home Internet and cell phones paid directly by the business.

Up until this point we had been paying those out-of-pocket. His Internet and phone costs are about 50% more than mine. I think that we should make changes in payroll so that we both now are having an equal benefit. He thinks that as this is a business expense, it shouldn’t matter. We purchase our computers, software, etc. through the business. So our Internet and phone is the same and I shouldn’t be given any extra money through payroll to equal out our Internet and phone expenses.

This feels unfair to me and I want to go back to paying out-of-pocket for our phone and Internet if our business dollars are going to be giving him that extra benefit. (He’s saving about $60 more a month than I am having the company pay internet/phone) Am I being ridiculous here? He has a good point about how we pay for our computers, laptops, through the business.

  • Corvus_Antipodum@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Setting aside how unproductive it is to invest any time or emotional energy into something so minor, in practice essentially all benefits are unequally applied.

    Paying insurance premiums for dependents is much more valuable to the person covering a spouse and kids than to a single person. Covering parking is much more valuable to the person working at the downtown location where it’s $600 a month to park in the garage than the person working at the satellite office with the huge free parking lot. Commuter assistance is more valuable to the dude living in the exurbs who takes two locals and an express bus to get to work than the dude who lives five minutes away and walks.

    And the business paying for your internet is more valuable the more your ISP charges. So what? The benefit is the same (business pays for internet) even if the relative value is different.

  • DueSignificance2628@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Get a company account for each, instead of having the company pay separate invoices for each person’s personal service. At least for the cell phones, all the major providers are eager to convert your phone to a business account, and the added benefit is you get a single bill every month for all company phones.

  • retire-early@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Well, if you were compensating per-mile driven for mileage, and he drove more than you, would that be unfair?

    What about travel, and his job responsibilities require more travel?

    It’s a business expense. Don’t compare it, just cover it.